Wicked Gods & Ruthless Gods (Gifted Academy).

Author : Michelle Hercules.

Publisher : Infinite Sky Publishing.

Release date : August 8th / September 12th 2019.

Personal note : ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Synopsis : Nowhere is safe when the gods are wicked.

Since the beginning of times, there has always been two sides: Norms and Idols. But never have the scales been so unbalanced as they are today. I’m a Norm, which means, I grew up in fear of the Idols and their godly powers. And now, I’m going to be surrounded by them, day and night. I’ve been offered a place at the prestigious Gifted Academy, an opportunity very few Norms get. To survive, I must become invisible. But my hope to get through the academy

unscathed goes down the drain when the most powerful boys in school set their eyes on me. They hate me simply because I’m a Norm. If they knew who I truly am, they’d tear me apart limb by limb. But I’m done cowering away from Idols. It’s time for the Norms to fight back, and it all starts with me.

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Let's start this review with the thing that firstly got my hooked on this book series : the cover. I'm a sucker for well made covers and this one is definitely one of them. But I won't write a whole paragraph about it or else, we will be here for the whole night, aha. Anyways, let's start. The story beings following the story of Daisy, a little ten years old girl whose life will be destroyed one terrible night. Events forces her and her little sister to run away and we discover what happened of their lives after

seven years, which brings her at the age of seventeen years.

We find our main character in the place she works and where the story will truly begin with the meeting between and the main male characters. At this point, I won't lie, I was already falling in love with this first book. The author offer us not one guy to drool over, but four. Bryce, Phoenix, Morpheus and Rufio are Idols, creatures with demi god blood in their veins, which offers them not only a high positions in their society, but also incredible capacities (that I'll let you discover if you decide to read the book). Called the "Magnificent Four", they're seen as kings in the Gifted Academy, the place where Daisy will, by some surprising circumstances, end as a new student.

The Gifted Academy is basically the Harvard of the story ; only the most clever (or most powerful) students are allowed there. Luckily (or unluckily) for Daisy, she's a very clever girl. But sadly for her, her arrival won't be taken greatly because of her nature. She's a Norm, an ordinary girl with no powers and who is, therefore, considered as a useless human being. And the Magnificent Four quickly decides that she shouldn't be allowed to be here, which starts a series of humiliations for our heroine. But we quickly learn that she isn't the kind of girl who gives up after some troubles ; which isn't that surprising after what she has been through in her childhood.

I won't lie, as much as I wanted to hate the boys, especially Phoenix and Rufio, it was a very hard task. Michelle Hercules, with her multiple point of views, gave us the possibility to learn more about these four interesting characters and we realize very soon that the four of them have a lot to deal with, even if they're powerful. Usually, multiple POV's are annoying for me because I like when the story is focused on the main character of the book, but here, it was actually a joy for me to discover that I would be able to see through the bravado of the Magnificent Four and damn.. that was so good.

As the chapters passes and the characters becomes more and more familiar to us, we also see our four boys slowly discovering their feelings towards Daisy ; hate as being replaced by desire, curiosity and more. I admit, I was actually surprised to see the way this story was handled. I didn't know before I started to read it that this book was a reversed harem, so when I saw the four boys starting to develop feelings, it came a bit as a shock (but a good one). Reversed harem are my weaknesses because they're unpredictable ; you never know who the girl will choose at the end.. unless they actually spoil it during the book.

In the second book, Ruthless Gods, we learn thanks to a vision of Morpheus that Daisy and Bryce will share special vows made by Idols, which brings the massive second spoiler : Daisy isn't a Norm but an Idol too. I mean, sure, I expected it to happen at some point, but for this to be revealed so soon was a bit disappointing. I don't entirely complain because we only have the confirmation at the end of the book, but it was still painfully obvious that the author had made Daisy more special than she first seemed to be.

Back to the context, I have to say that for a book about five teenagers in school, the events were actually surprisingly interesting and original. A lot is happening in each chapters and we don't have the time to catch a breath ; something is always coming and we know it. The story evolve around many mysteries ; who is Daisy, why she's here, who is killing the students with some special drug called "Silver-Voltage", who is Mr.X true identity etc. But the most interesting mystery for me as yet to happen ; why/how the Idols who killed Daisy's parents suddenly attacked her father the night he said he discovered how to kill them ? Perhaps I'm overthinking about it, but I find it suspicious how the day he made such an important discovery, Idols decided to find him and take care of him. It's like someone warned them.

Back on the characters and more specifically, the Magnificent Four. After two books, it's hard for me to say who has become my little favorite. Each one of the boys have different personalities, way to think/talk and, sadly for me, they're too interesting for their own good. How am I supposed to not fall in love with them four when the author made such a incredible job at writing them (and the story itself) ? It's truly unfair. But so far, my heart goes the farthest for Phoenix and Morpheus. Their lives are much more complicated than we would anticipate and both have very dark secrets. But overall, it's some scene they shared with Daisy that made them appear as better suitors for her. I especially liked the scene where Daisy helped Phoenix to get rid of his father in the end of Ruthless Gods (and where she discovers her ability). The fact that seeing Phoenix being hurt triggered her powers is, for me, a proof of their powerful link.

Anyways. I have a lot more to say, but this review is already very long so I'll end it here with some last words. These two books were amazing and it's not surprising that Michelle Hercules is considered as a bestselling author. She deserves this title and I cannot wait for the next book, "Hateful Heroes", which will be released in December.

| Lola's Universe.